Pork Found to House Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

A new Consumer Reports investigation found that pork sold in grocery stores contains harmful bacteria with antibiotic-resistant properties.

A recent investigation by Consumer Reports found that in nearly 200 samples of pork from major grocery chains and national brands throughout the US, a large portion contained one or more potentially harmful bacteria. While trichinosis and salmonella were not dominantly found, Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria, which leaves roughly 100,000 people a year sick, was discovered in 69 percent of the tested samples along with smaller percentages of staph, listeria, and other bacterias. CR also found the majority of the bacteria in the meat to be resistant to at least one or more forms of antibiotic—a reaction, which in some cases, has been known to cause strains of harmful superbugs, many of which can pass back and forth between animals and humans. About 80 percent of antibiotics in the US are given to farm animals.